Woman who thought she found wallet with $150K warns of scam

BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- A woman who thought she had discovered a wallet with $150,000 inside is warning others after her "finders keepers" good fortune turned out to be a scam.

"I was completely, completely fooled," the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told WITI. "I just regret being a part of it."

She said she was walking through a parking lot on Bluemound Road in Brookfield, Wisconsin when a woman called out to her.

"She asked me if I had dropped anything," the woman said. She said the woman held up a wallet filled with cash. "It was brown and it almost looked like the size of a brick," she said.

They called over a third woman to take a look, and decided to keep the money -- splitting it three ways.

"Well, finders keepers then, huh?" she said.

The woman who found the wallet said she worked at First Weber Realty. She said her office had a money counting machine, and that her boss would help them draw up paperwork to keep the money legally. The three women drove together to the office, parked in the back and the woman who found the wallet walked inside.

She came back out with unbelievable news, telling the other two "that there was $150,000 in cash in the wallet," the victim recalled.

But in order to get the money, the woman claimed to work at First Weber Realty said all three women had to provide some cash to prove they were financially responsible, so they drove to Educator's Credit Union.

"I walked to the bank and withdrew the money," the victim told WITI.

Back at First Weber Realty, the victim added her stack of cash to those of the other two women. The plan was for the three of them to go in one by one, and "that's when it hit me that something was wrong," she said.

Inside First Weber, no one knew what she was talking about. Meanwhile, the car and the other two women disappeared, along with her $2,000.

"The whole thing is horrendous," she said.

Brookfield police say they are investigating the incident. A spokesman told WITI he'd never heard of this type of scam before. WITI also spoke with First Weber Realty, where employees said no one by that description or name works for them.

The victim said she spent three hours with the alleged scammers, and while she's now broke, she's grateful she wasn't hurt.